IEEE Xplore search operators

You can use the following Boolean search operators to define the relationships between your keywords and narrow or broaden your search results.

Operator	Example	Finds articles with...
AND	hybrid AND vehicle	both the word hybrid and the word vehicle
OR	HEV or "hybrid electric vehicle"	either the word HEV or the phrase hybrid electric vehicle or both
NOT	"hybrid electric vehicle" NOT train	the phrase hybrid electric vehicle but not the word train
NEAR (Command Search)	"hybrid electric vehicle" NEAR/3 battery	finds the phrase hybrid electric vehicle within 3 words of the word battery.  Battery can come before or after hybrid electric vehicle.
ONEAR (Command Search)	"hybrid electric vehicle" ONEAR/3 battery	finds the phrase hybrid electric vehicle within 3 words of the word battery.  Hybrid electric vehicle must come before battery.

When you use multiple operators IEEE Xplore applies them in this order:

1. NEAR/ONEAR
2. NOT
3. AND
4. OR

Use brackets to change the order operators are applied to get the results you need:

"hybrid electric vehicle" OR "HEV" AND battery finds all documents in which the phrase HEV AND the term battery are both present as well as all documents in which the phrase hybrid electric vehicle  is present.

 ("hybrid electric vehicle" OR "HEV") AND battery will only find documents that include the word battery in addition to either the phrase hybrid electric vehicle or the word HEV.

 

Searching for an exact word or phrase

Use inverted commas around words to search for them together and/or exactly as you entered them.

•  "vehicle" finds results with vehicle but not vehicles
• "electric vehicle" finds articles with the words electric vehicle together and in that order  

 

Using wildcards

If you are not sure of a spelling you can use an asterisk (*) or question mark (?)

• electro* finds electron, electrons, electronic, electronics, electromagnetic, electromechanical, and electrostatic
• *optic finds optic,fiber-optic, electrooptic, acoustooptic, etc
• m*n finds Matches men, mean, median, and any other word that begins with me and ends with n
• wom*n finds woman or women
• "health inform*" finds health informatics, health information 

You can use up to 9 asterisk wildcards per search, and the asterisk wildcard can be used at the beginning of a word (*medical), in the middle of a word (wom*n), or at the end of a word (simulat*).

 

Punctuation and  special characters

IEEE Xplore ignores most punctuation and special characters except for &, +, and / special 

• solid-state finds solid-state, solid_state and solid state
• AT&T returns results with AT&T, AT and T

 

Plurals of words

IEEE Xplore automatically looks for the plural of most keywords

• Vehicle finds vehicle and vehicles

 

British vs American Spellings

IEEE Xplore looks for both British and American spellings 

• colour also finds color
• fibre also finds fiber

 

Alternative forms of words

IEEE Xplore looks for the verb forms of your keywords

• ignite finds ignite, igniting, ignited